


Over the River and Through the Woods

by amadeusofnohr



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Little Red Riding Hood Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Effie!Sophie, F/F, Getting Together, Implied Cannibalism, Pre-Femslash, me spewing bs i made up about wolfskins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-16 22:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14820552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amadeusofnohr/pseuds/amadeusofnohr
Summary: The old woman had looked around and leaned in conspiratorially. "And when that moon is full, darlin’, well, let’s jus say wolves ain’t the only ones howlin’ out there."Which was just silly. Magic was real, of course, but who’d ever heard of werewolves?-------In hopes of reconciling with his estranged mother, Silas sends his daughter Sophie to visit her house in the woods, armed with a basket full of baked goods. Unfortunately, her grandma isn't the only one living in the forest, and some inhabitants are far from receptive of visitors.





	1. To Grandma's House We Go

Sophie sighed in frustration, tugging angrily at the hem of her shirt. It was just too weird to be wearing plain clothes without any armor on top of them. But Daddy had insisted she forgo anything even vaguely resembling it.

“Mom hasn’t spoken to me since I joined the Royal Guard. Disrespecting the noble family name and all,” he had explained awkwardly.

Old Granny had apparently been a court-going noble, at least until she had been so upset with Silas refusing to follow in her footsteps that she had quit civilization and moved into a cottage in the middle of the woods, far, far away from Nohr’s capital and its knight battalions.

“It’s time we make amends! To reunite as a family!” He had proclaimed boldly, before promptly rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “But I doubt she wants to see me at all. She’ll probably be a more receptive to you, though.” And so he had pressed a basket of baked goods into her arms and ordered her off to visit his mom.

“Stupid coward,” she muttered to herself. It wasn’t really that much of a pain, but she’d much rather be focusing on her cavalier training. She had so much more to learn! Her sword was strapped to her side, just in case, but she couldn’t really justify taking a break to practice her swings when she was technically on a mission. Daddy had banned her from taking Avel in the name of making a good impression on Granny, but it was still _kind of_ a mission! Daddy had even given her a budget for the trip.

The inn in the tiny village closest to Granny’s forest hide-away was cozy, but the people there sure were weird.

“Be careful out there, dearie,” warned the innkeeper, a haggard old woman with sagging skin and wide eyes. “Every night the wolves howl up a storm, and Tasha says her son went out one evenin’ to fetch water from the well, and ain’t been back since.” The old woman had looked around and leaned in conspiratorially. “And when that moon is full, darlin’, well, let’s jus say wolves ain’t the only ones howlin’ out there.”

Which was just silly. Magic was real, of course, but who’d ever heard of werewolves?

“That just wouldn’t make any sense!” she assured herself. She definitely wasn’t walking any faster than she usually did right now. The forest seemed to loom around her, dense and uncut, branches and shrubs alike encroaching on the lone dirt path that weaved through the woods.

“It probably isn’t even that far of a walk. I’ll be there before nightfall, easy as pie!” She was swinging her arms nervously, and her eye caught on the basket in her hands, which was full of lots of things, including pie. “Hah! That was a good one.”

“Do you always talk to yourself like this, blondie? It’s quite annoying,” a voice commented dryly. Sophie shrieked, and her hands jerked instinctively to her sword, the picnic basket flying out of her grip.

In front of her stood a stocky girl, who couldn’t have been much older than Sophie was, with long gray hair covered by a red hood. She held up a single finger, the handle of the picnic basket catching on it and twirling around and around before stopping. She leaned in and sniffed it. Her nose wrinkled.

“Whoever eats these is going to die of food poisoning.” Sophie gawked.

“W-who asked you!” Her sword was pointed at the stranger, and she waved it wildly for emphasis. “And what are you doing here? And what’s your name?” Interrogation didn’t seem like a skill knights would need often, so she hadn’t practiced it much at all. She regretted her decision.

The stranger cocked an eyebrow, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

“My name’s Velouria, if you must know. You’re not the only one traveling through these words, though you certainly are the loudest.” Sophie huffed, puffing out her cheeks. Velouria didn’t seem hostile enough to attack her, so she slid her sword back into its sheaths. She’d let bygones be bygones.

“My name’s Sophie! It’s nice to meet you!” She held out a hand. Velouria stared at it distastefully. Sophie coughed, shaking her hand a bit. Velouria shoved her basket into her hand.

“For the record, I didn’t even bake these. I was banned from the kitchen after I set everything on fire last time. Who knew stoves could get so hot…” Velouria said nothing. Sophie frowned.

“Well, if that’s all, I kind of have a grandma to visit, so I’ll just get going.” If Velouria didn’t want to be friends, fine. Sophie could handle a big creepy forest all on her own. Avel wasn’t even here to get her lost.

Velouria cocked her head.

“Your grandma’s the one living out here?”

“Wait, you know Granny?” Velouria shrugged.

“There’s only one person stupid enough to live out here. Of course I’ve heard of her.” Sophie crossed her arms.

“Don’t insult my grandma if you’ve never even met her!”

“ _You’ve_ also never met her.” Sophie paused.

“How do you know that? I mean, y-you don’t know that!” Velouria turned away.

“You just confirmed it. Have fun out here, blondie. Be careful not to leave the path.” Then she crouched and jumped away into the foliage, her red cloak swirling behind her. Sophie stood there for a moment, taken aback.

“Well, that was weird.” Certainly not the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her, though. And maybe she could even have a new friend at the end of this. Daddy was always telling her how important connections were to being a knight. Velouria wasn’t particularly friendly, but one of Sophie’s best traits was her persistence.

“Next time I see her, she won’t get away that easily!” Sophie vowed to herself, clenching her fist.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“I hate trees,” she grumbled. The sun was sinking lower and lower, and yet the view around her still looked the same. She almost thought she might be going in circles, but there was only one path, so it shouldn’t have been possible to get lost. Her pants were muddy and torn from where she had kept slipping and falling. It must have rained recently, because the further into the forest she went the wetter it got. Her boots squelched with every step she took.

Eventually, a roaring noise reached her ears. Her map had said that there was a river to cross, and that it was extremely close to Granny’s house. Whooping in delight, she sped up as much as she dared with the ground still slippery. As she reached the top of hill, she squinted into the distance.

Sure enough, there was a river cutting through the forest, full of swirling water. Water that was much, much higher than it should’ve been. There was a tiny bridge barely visible beneath the surface of the water, covered completely.

“Just my luck,” she groaned, sliding down the hill to examine the river for any possible crossing points. The water was murky and dirty, full of debris. It must’ve been quite the storm, so maybe some trees had fallen over somewhere…

She abandoned the dirt path to walk downstream alongside the river, keeping a careful distance from the edge of the water. She didn’t fancy testing out her swimming skills against the torrent.

The sun wasn’t getting any higher, but there were still no conveniently fallen trees or other, non-flooded bridges. She chewed on her bottom lip, glancing around furtively. She found a relatively dry patch of ground, placed the picnic basket down, and cracked her knuckles.

Her target was a tree of medium height, with a trunk so large she couldn’t even wrap her arms all the way around it. She crouched and hugged the tree, digging her fingers into the bark.

“Hyah!” Birds squawked indignantly, fleeing their uprooted home. Dirt fell in clumps as she lifted the tree and swung it around to face the river. With a final grunt of effort, she set the tree down, creating a perfect makeshift bridge. Mother would be proud.

She hummed merrily and picked her basket back up, then approached the tree, pressing a palm to the base and pushing on it tentatively. It creaked, but only budged a little. Probably stable enough to cross.

She hopped up onto the trunk and spread her arms out to keep her balance.

“Just one step at a time,” she assured herself, keeping her eyes fixed down at her feet.

She was about halfway across when her right arm suddenly got heavier, and she tilted precariously sideways. She flapped her arms up and down furiously in a desperate effort to stay balanced. She panted with relief when she succeeded, turning to glare at the offending arm.

“Caw?” A smug black crow was perched there, staring at her. Its head was cocked, and their gazes met.

“You can’t be here!” Why was a bird from the middle of nowhere so comfortable with humans, anyways? “Get off!”

The crow turned away from her and pecked at her picnic basket.

“Don’t touch those! Or else!” It ignored her threats and poked its beak under the lid of the basket.

She shook her arm as hard as she could in an effort to dislodge the fiend. It was undaunted. With a triumphant caw the bird popped the flap of the basket up and slipped its entire head inside.

Sophie jerked her arm inwards, aiming to snatch the bird up with her other hand. Then her foot slipped, and she realized her mistake.

As she toppled forward, she saw the crow scramble out of the basket, beak thankfully empty. At least one thing was going right. She shut her eyes instinctively and braced herself for the chill of the water below.

“Erk!” She choked as the neck of her shirt was tugged backwards, pulling tight around her throat as she was jerked back up and shoved forward. She stumbled back onto dry land, landing gracelessly on her butt.

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

“Velouria!”

The girl sighed, hopping off the fallen tree and adjusting her gloves.

“I really have the worst luck.” Sophie groaned, standing up and dusting off her pants.

“I don’t think it was bad luck as much as bad decisions.”

Sophie rolled her eyes.

“You’ll never make any friends with that attitude.”

“I don’t need any,” was her dismissive reply. Sophie frowned.

“And here I was gonna say thanks for saving me! Two can play the rotten attitude game.” There was silence until Sophie relented.

“Okay, I give. Thanks! _I_ wouldn’t mind being friends.”

“I was just being polite.”

“Suuuure you were. ‘Cause you’re so good at that.” Sophie decided to graciously extend another olive branch of friendship.

“What are you doing out here, anyways? If you’re going the same way as me, we can walk together.” Velouria opened her mouth immediately, but then shut it.

“I am heading the same way as you. I’m visiting someone on the other side of the forest.” Sophie grinned.

“Perfect! Then let’s go! Though we should probably get back onto the path first,” she said, a little sheepishly, remembering what Velouria had told her not even two hours ago.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

She tried to strike up more conversation after that, but Velouria barely reacted. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere, and she paused frequently to stare off randomly into the woods. Finally, they reached a fork in path.

“Well, Granny’s house is this way,” she began awkwardly. Velouria stared intensely at the fork. She sniffed and promptly coughed, rubbing at her nose with the back of her hand.

“I’m heading the other way.”

Sophie impulsively reached out to grab one of Velouria’s hands and shake it.

“Maybe we’ll meet again sometime! I can introduce you to my horse, Avel, and you two can be grumpy together.” Velouria removed her hand.

“I do like animals,” she offered, and then immediately vanished.

Sophie sighed and started down her side of the fork. Just as she thought, there was still ample daylight for getting the rest of the way to Granny’s house.

The house was more of a cottage, really, tiny and squished. It was made of stone, at least, so Granny hadn’t completely wasted her fortune when having it build. The door was painted a cheery red, and the front window was framed by checkered curtains, revealing a homey looking wooden table inside.

“Well, here goes nothing.” She took a deep breath and raised a fist to the door, knocking firmly. Nothing happened. Nothing happened for so long that she was just preparing to knock again when the door swung open.

“Who might you be?” Croaked the woman inside, leering suspiciously down at her. Granny sure was tall. She was wearing a simple dress with a bonnet pulled down over her eyes, curly white hair spilling messily down her shoulders.

“I know this is sudden, but I’m Silas’ daughter! He wanted to apologize for everything. I brought you these!” She thrust the basket at the old woman, who pursed her lips. “My name’s Sophie, by the way.” After a moment, the old lady smiled.

“All is forgiven, dearie. Do come in.” Mission success! Sophie acquiesced and stepped inside, looking around curiously. The decor was disappointingly bland for someone who had once lived in a decadent mansion.

“Go ahead and put your sword by the door. You can hang up your jacket too.” She smiled sweetly, gesturing at the coat rack beside the door.

“Your voice sure is deep, Granny, you sound just like Daddy! Well, I suppose _he_ sounds like _you_ , huh? I guess that’s where he got it from.” She chatted gamely as she shuffled off her vest. When she turned back around, Granny had placed the basket onto a polished table, the same one visible from the window.

“Ah, well, all the better to speak to you with, dearie.” Sophie ventured over to the table, wondering if it would be rude to open the picnic basket herself. Traveling was hungry work. Granny beat her to it, flipping open the lid to examine the contents.

“These look positively delicious.” Sophie beamed.

“I’ll pass that on!” Her eyes caught on one of Granny’s hands, which was resting on top of the basket.

“Your hands sure are big. That must’ve skipped my generation.” Sophie held up her own, average-sized hands forlornly. Granny’s grin didn’t fade.

“All the better to hug you with.” She reached out and pinched Sophie’s cheek. She had a good few inches on her, in fact, she was probably even taller than Daddy. Her gaze locked with Granny’s.

“What interesting eyes you have! Me and Daddy really missed out, haha…” Sophie trailed off, something about the look in Granny’s yellow eyes unsettling her. Granny was still smiling, and her hand hadn’t moved.

“All the better to see you with,” she commented lightly. Sophie grabbed her hand and lowered it.

“Why don’t we try some of these? I sure am hungry!” Something flashed in Granny’s eyes, and her grin grew broader, showing teeth. Sharp teeth. The light reflected off them eerily. Sophie instinctively backed away.

“Um…”

“I’m afraid I’m not interested in eating the pastries,” Sophie felt her back hit the table. Her eyes darted to her sword, on the other side of the room.

Granny stepped forward ominously and flexed her arms. Claws sprouted from her fingertips. Her bonnet tilted to the side, and so did her hair, which was evidently a wig, as tall, furry ears flicked out. Sophie gulped, gripping the table behind her tightly.

“Get down!”

The combat instinct in her took over, and she threw herself obediently to the ground. A dark shape barreled over her head, coming straight through the window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. The shape crashed into Granny, sending the two rolling across the ground, stopped only by the far wall of the cottage. The tiny house shuddered with the force of the impact.

“Velouria?!?”


	2. A-Hunting We Will Go

There was no response, but Sophie was positive that it was her. The two had landed with Velouria kneeling on top of Granny, her hands around the old woman’s throat. Her red cloak was twisted and wrinkled, and the hood had fallen off, revealing that Velouria _also_ had wolf ears.

Granny bunched up her legs and kicked Velouria away with a snarl. She slid across the floor, digging her fingers into it to slow herself down, leaving behind lines of splintered wood in her wake. She kicked off the ground, aiming to tackle Granny again. She was already back on her feet.

Instead, Granny stepped to the side and launched a kick straight into her gut. Velouria wheezed, her momentum halted in a very unpleasant way. She grabbed at Granny’s leg as she fell, trying to bring her foe down with her. She succeeded.

Sophie winced as Granny landed directly on top of her back with a sickening crunch.

She looked around frantically for a weapon, or maybe just something sharp, anything she could use to help. Her sword was on the same side of the room as the tussling _werewolves_ , so that wasn’t exactly an option. The table was too bulky to easily wield, but one of the chairs…

Granny and Velouria were both standing up, eyeing each other with hatred. Sophie caught Velouria’s eye over Granny’s shoulder and held a finger up to her lips.          

“You’re a disgrace to the pack, Nomex,” Velouria spat, facial expression unchanged. Granny chuckled.

“You assume I care what those mongrels think of me.”

Velouria’s face twisted into something more feral, and she leapt forward just as Sophie smashed a chair over the back of Granny’s head. She howled in pain, turning to face Sophie, only for Velouria to crash into her. Sophie took the opportunity to make a desperate dash towards her sword.

There was a loud noise behind her, and she whirled around, barely catching sight of Granny exiting through the broken window. Velouria was on the floor beneath the table.

“That bastard,” she swore as she shoved it off, eyes more expressive than Sophie had ever seen them.

“Are you okay?” Sophie kept her sword at the ready, just in case, as she approached the other girl. Velouria rubbed at her bruised jaw and swept her tongue over her teeth. She spat onto the floor with distaste, saliva red with blood.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

Sophie held out a hand that Velouria reluctantly took and helped her to her feet. She couldn’t help but stare at her exposed ears as they flicked back and forth.

“I don’t think Nomex is coming back anytime soon. He’s already out of my range.”

“Nomex?” Velouria looked terribly awkward all of a sudden.

“He used to be a member of my pack. That wasn’t your grandma.”

“So, he’s also a, uh, werewolf?”

“Wolfskin, technically. There’s a difference. But yes.” Sophie frowned.

“Then where’s Granny?” Velouria placed a hand on Sophie’s shoulder, face blank.

“We have a tradition of dealing with any human trespassers on our territory with a feast. Made out of the trespassers. Nomex decided he valued the taste of flesh over following our rules, so he fled. I was supposed to hunt him down before he caused any damage, but, well. Your granny’s not with us anymore.”

Sophie’s jaw dropped.

“Are you telling me he, he _ate_ her?”

Velouria nodded, breaking eye contact to examine her fingernails. Her gloves were torn from the knuckle up.

“We have to go after him, then!” she declared. Sophie was a simple soul. She knew when justice needed to be served. Velouria cocked her head.

“You aren’t going to cry?” Sophie waved her sword emphatically, jabbing at an invisible enemy.

“What kind of knight would I be if I let my emotions get in the way of avenging a murder? Even if we’d never met before, she was family.”

Velouria raised her gaze, looking over Sophie critically.

“As long as you won’t slow me down.” Sophie beamed.

“I won’t! I swear on my honor as a knight!”

Well, her honor as a knight-to-be. What little she still had. If she had walked faster, wasted just a little less time, could she have stopped Nom-what’s his face from killing Granny? But, it was too late for that now. This was the least she could do. And she needed to stop thinking about it, or she would probably throw up, and that wouldn’t reassure Velouria of her ability to be useful.

“You’ll probably need to tell me a bit more about Wolfskins, though. My swords not made of silver or anything special, y’know?” Velouria eyed it.

“That’s werewolves. We don’t have a natural weakness like that. We’re losing time. We’ll talk more as we walk.” She placed a hand on a glass-free portion of the windowsill and propelled herself easily over it. Sophie opted to just step out one leg at a time, like a normal person. She had to fast-walk to catch up with Velouria, who was sniffing the air with gusto.

“We’re not much more durable than the average human, unless we transform. But that takes energy. We usually rely on charmed stones to offset the cost, like this one. They’re called beast-stones.” She used one hand to pull out a necklace from beneath the ruffled collar of her shirt. It was round and polished, the color a deep purple.

Sophie leaned in to examine it more closely, and then promptly realized exactly how close the necklace was to her, uh, chest region. She withdrew, face red, and Velouria thankfully didn’t say anything snarky about it.

“Transformed, we’re much, much stronger, and harder to damage. And we’re also about three times larger than our base forms.” Sophie looked at Velouria’s head, then up at the sky, trying to estimate how big that would be.

“Uh. Will the sword still work?” Velouria shrugged.

“It seems plenty sharp. Just aim at the vitals. Ideally, we can stop him from transforming in the first place. His current stone doesn’t have a lot of juice so left, so if we’re lucky we get it off him before he resorts to that.” Sophie hummed thoughtfully.

“Would you be able to take him if you transformed too?” Surprisingly, Velouria’s ears perked up at that, and she smiled proudly.

“Most definitely. I’m the pack leader’s daughter, after all, and Daddy’s the strongest there is.” Her ears wilted. “Though Nomex is also older than me. And he’s been in more fights. So realistically, we probably shouldn’t do that.”

Sophie couldn’t help but giggle.

“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of fights in the future where you can show off.” Velouria glared.

“Also, are we actually going to catch up to him like this?” They were only walking, after all. Velouria tapped the side of her nose.

“He’s staying downwind of us. Even if we sped up, he’d just smell us coming. We’ll have to wait for him to stop for the night.”

“But what if he doesn’t? He could make it to a village outside of the forest in one night, easy, and chow down.”

“He’ll have to.” Velouria replied confidently. “He fled earlier today, and transformed while doing it. And he transformed to, uh, consume his meal. His stench was all over the house. He won’t have the energy to run all night, and he can’t go much deeper into the forest. He’ll run into our regular patrols.”

Sophie still wasn’t sure she liked the waiting patiently plan.

“What if he runs into another traveler in here?” Not everyone carried swords like she did, or even any weapon at all.

Velouria shifted uneasily.

“It’s a possibility, but we don’t usually get a lot of traffic. Hopefully he’ll be focused on running and not want to spend time hunting someone.”

Sophie pursed her lips unhappily. That wasn’t an answer she liked, but she supposed it was the best they could do.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They’d been walking steadily for a few hours now. The moon and stars were plenty bright, but their light was mostly blocked by all the stupid trees in the forest, and Sophie kept tripping over tree roots. She was also starting to get tired, which wasn’t helping. Velouria seemed to find it very amusing, her wolf eyes not at all bothered by the dark.

“You said we wouldn’t be going deeper into the forest,” Sophie had whined.

“I can’t control Nomex’s bad decisions.” Velouria had shot back, unimpressed.

Sophie glanced up at the sky, trying to gauge the time. She fiddled nervously with her headband. They were heading in the opposite direction from the villageshe had come from, but who knew when they’d reach the edge of the forest and Nomex would stumble on some other village full of easy targets.

Velouria glanced over at her, eyes falling on her headband.

“How long have you had that?” Sophie jerked her hand away, startled.

“Uh, since I was little. It doesn’t even fit that well anymore, but it was a gift from my aunt. I told her I wanted to be a knight, and the next day she gave me it to keep my hair out of my face.” Sophie tugged at a strand of hair idly, smiling fondly at the memory. “Definitely working.”

Velouria snorted, but her eyes stayed fixed on it.

“You’ve repaired it quite a few times,” she said, fascinated. Sophie furrowed her brow.

“You can smell that?”

“It smells old. In a good way.” Sophie gave her an odd look.

“Is that a good thing?”

“ _I_ think it is.” Velouria’s hands twitched. “I like collecting old things.” Sophie grinned.

“Do you wanna hold it?” She pulled off the headband and handed it over. Velouria flipped it around in her hands and held it up to her nose, inhaling deeply.

“What kind of things do you collect?” It seemed like an appropriate hobby for a werewolf living in the middle of the woods, but what even was there to find? Sticks and stones? Leaves?

Velouria lit up like a candle, her ears swiveling to full height.

“All sorts of stuff. Dust bunnies, hair balls, parts of broken weapons, scraps of cloth, sometimes old coins that travelers drop. They’re all my treasures.” Sophie couldn’t help it. She laughed. Velouria’s ears drooped.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way!” she corrected quickly, holding up her hands defensively. “It’s really sweet. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and all. And you’re a dork. Even big old grumpy werewolves are dorks.”

“Wolfskins.” Velouria corrected, by force of habit. But she didn’t look that upset anymore, so that was a win. She handed the headband back. Sophie tucked it back onto her head, readjusting her hair.

“It’s not the most well-respected hobby.” Velouria admitted. “Daddy does it too, but no one wants to make fun of the leader. He’d make them go run laps or ban them from eating for a day or something.”

 “Couldn’t you just pass on the word? I’m sure your dad would shut them down.” Sophie suggested. What kind of rude packmates would hound her about it? Hah, hound. She mentally patted herself on the back.

Velouria looked positively affronted.

“I can handle my own problems!” Sophie giggled.

“You mean you’d be embarrassed to run off to your parents?” Velouria huffed.

“Everyone respects me, they kind of have to. Just not my hobbies. They would probably still respect me after that, too. I just, well, I don’t want Daddy to think I’m still a sad little puppy who can’t solve her own problems.”

“Well, you kind of are.” Velouria elbowed her.

“I bet you wouldn’t want to tell your dad your problems, either.” Sophie wilted.

“I kind of have to. Hiding them just makes them worse. Like when I tried to pretend I didn’t break his favorite sword by repairing it myself.” She rolled up the sleeve of her right arm and pointed at an ugly burn mark near the elbow. “I didn’t know how to work a forge. At all. I probably would’ve set myself on fire if I hadn’t gotten caught. Besides, Daddy’s the best knight I know! He always has just the kind of advice I need.”

Velouria didn’t seem convinced.

“I would’ve just hidden the sword.” Sophie rolled her eyes.

“That was only an example!”

“It’s all the same. He babies me enough as it is, I don’t need to give him more fuel for it. It took all my charm to get him to let me hunt Nomex down.”

Sophie opened her mouth to comment on how that wasn’t really very much charm, when Velouria suddenly paused, nose wrinkled.

“What’s wrong?” Sophie asked briskly, hand immediately going to the hilt of her sword.

“There’s scent marks. We shouldn’t be that close to our territory. According to these, Nomex would be heading towards pack land.”

“Maybe he didn’t notice them?”

Velouria shook her head.

“A pup could smell these. And this shouldn’t even be marked as pack land.”

Sophie bit her lip. He was clearly purposefully heading deeper into the forest. It sounded a lot like…

“Could he have allies? Signaling him to meet up with them?”

Velouria’s face darkened.

“Impossible.” She snapped, fur and hair bristling. “Nomex may be rotten, but the rest of the pack would never betray us. It could just be a newbie patrol, or they could have purposefully gone off route to let Nomex know they’re watching.”

Sophie took a step back, but kept her chin held high.

“Why would he be heading in that direction without a good reason? It’s not like he wants to get caught.”

“Maybe he wants to throw us off. Do the opposite of what we expect.”

“You can’t think that’s a good reason. Don’t be—” Velouria jerked her head up, holding up a hand to cut off Sophie.

“He stopped moving.”

“Resting?” Sophie asked incredulously. It was suspicious, in her opinion. Highly suspicious. Velouria grunted in agreement.

“Probably. I don’t smell any other Wolfskin nearby, so maybe he decided to take what he could get.”

“How far away are we?”

“Twenty minutes behind. He could consider that as good as he’s going to get.”

“Or he could be waiting for someone.” Velouria glared.

“Either way, this is our chance. Let’s pick up the pace.” She dashed off, abandoning the path, ducking and weaving to evade branches, making a bee-line for Nomex’s location without regard for the density of the foliage in her way. Sophie cursed under her breath and took off after her before she left her range of vision. Stupid nighttime.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They circled around in an attempt to be upwind of Nomex, but he had probably already smelled them coming if his senses were half as sharp as Velouria’s.

“No one else is around,” Velouria whispered. They were crouched behind some bushes on the outskirts of the clearing Nomex had chosen to sleep in.

He was laying on the ground in the middle of the clearing, giving himself plenty of space to see someone coming. He had shed the old clothes he had filched from Granny’s house, and was instead just in shorts and a low-cut shirt with leather padding.

Velouria nodded at Sophie, holding a finger to her lips. Sophie gave a thumbs-up. Velouria stood up and took a single, careful step into the clearing, and Nomex snapped to attention in a blur of motion. He stayed where he was but switched to crouching on all-fours, a feral grin on his face.

“That’s the last mistake you’ll ever make.” He growled, yellow eyes practically glowing. Velouria was undaunted, moving closer without hesitation. Sophie stayed where she was, eyes racing around the edges of the clearing, straining to see any sign of other enemies.

“You’re not going to win this. Stand down without a fight and maybe you’ll get to live.”

Nomex smirked.

“I’m not worried about losing a fight to two _children_.” And, for the briefest of seconds, his eyes flicked to Velouria’s right. Sophie followed his gaze. She couldn’t really make out any distinct forms between the dark and blurry trees, but her gut churned. Her instincts were never wrong. She moved.

“Velouria, he’s not alone!”

She sprinted towards Velouria, sword drawn, as a shadowy figure leapt out of the forest, heading for the Wolfskin.

She made it just in time, raising her sword to take the brunt of the attack. Her foe bounced off the sword, attack repelled, and she finally got a clear look at exactly what it was that they were up against.

The beast was tall and heavily muscled, looking more like a bear than a wolf, standing on two legs and covered in gray fur. Its eyes were glowing red, its mouth frothing and fanged. Just one of its arms was about as thick around as Sophie’s entire body, and they were tipped with sharp, long claws.

She gulped, pressing closer to Velouria. She could feel how tense Velouria was, the muscles in her back drawn tight.

“I can’t believe this,” she growled, voice raised. “You’ll both regret this, mark my words.”

Nomex was unfazed. He lumbered to his feet, crossing his arms smugly. He whistled, high and short.

Two more of the beasts emerged on opposite sides of the clearing. They were surrounded.

“How did you not smell those?” Sophie demanded, eyes wide as she took them all in.

“I’ll tell you later.” Velouria rumbled. Her voice had gotten much, much deeper. “Once we get out of this alive.”

Nomex pulled something out of his pocket, and Sophie had a sinking feeling that she knew what it was.

“I’d say you’re the ones who should surrender now, but we have no intention of letting you live. Better luck in your next life, kiddies.”

He clenched his fist around what could only be a beast-stone, and then began to glow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really want two fight scenes in one chapter, so, uh, sorry about the kind-of cliffhanger. There should only be 1 more chapter, for real this time (probably).

**Author's Note:**

> This should only have about 1 more chapter, which will hopefully be up around this time next week. I'm not sure if I managed to capture Velouria and Sophie just right, so, as always, constructive criticism is welcome!


End file.
